Riverwoods-Archbold Part Deux

Jessica, Morgan, and I had the opportunity to revisit the Riverwoods/Archbold trip we took as interns for the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation for the Everglades! We drove up, met the newest group of interns (such great people!) and got to join them on some of the learning experiences. It was great to see some of our favorite trips again!

Even the drive was fun. We did have to pull over for a rainstorm, which became a lightning storm... at which point we were pulled over on a metal bridge over a river. Oops.

At Riverwoods, we even got the same beds that we had last year! HA! I'd almost forgotten how beautiful it was! We took quite a few walks, just to take in everything. This year, we even had our smores in a real fire! (I'll always love our microwave smores, though.)

Riverwoods is gorgeous!

The first night there we went to the Taylor Creek Stormwater Treatment Area Trail. There was no mentor for it this year, but we got to walk the entire trail. We watched the sun set, braved HUGE mosquitoes, and saw fireflies. I can't remember the last time I saw fireflies. Beautiful trip.

In the morning we took the Riverwoods Field Laboratory pontoon boat out on the Kissimmee River. Like last year, we saw the channelized section and the restored section. This year we got to see the spoil barges that are taking up the mounds of soil stacked on the banks. They bring them out into the river and dump then on the bottom, reshallowing the area. Very neat. The water was deep enough that they got to go dipnetting this year! We stopped at a small high area, like a small island, and collecting samples. I walked the island and took photos, loving my feet in the water. I don't remember getting to stand in the Kissimmee last year, even if I did, I loved getting to this year. 

Last year the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park was one of my favorite places. I loved the history, the Carolina Parakeet statue, and the amazing scenery. We realized that we were visiting on the anniversary of our visit last year: June 30! Trippy! We found a geocache by the visitor center! WOOT! We saw a red shouldered hawk, lovely flowers, but no lubbers! An incoming storm kicked up the flames on a prescribed burn, and they were incredibly high! Meanwhile, that same storm was converging with another storm, and throwing out lightning like confetti. We got pictures, and videos, but they never do the light-show justice.

July 1, we three headed out to Archbold Biological Station. We arrived before the rest of the group, and took ourselves on the first of many hikes through the scrub. Some of it had been burned, and it was neat to see another side of it. 

Once I decide which of the bazillion scrub jay picture I like best, I'll put a couple here. 

We spoiled our lunches with brunch-smores, and investigated the nearby town of Lake Placid (one of America's most Interesting Towns, according to Reader's Digest). The town has 46 murals, and you could spend a whole day just doing that! We didn't, though. We tried to check out the train depot (found it closed). The train depot mural apparently has an "always on" train-crossing light and horn. Interesting. The famous Tower in town was closed, and a little creepy. We ended up at the Clown Museum (and School), where we learned about the various types of clowns, had a private magic show, and filled up our 'totally creeped out' meters for the day. 

The clown museum was somehow both innocuous and terrifying. 

My favorite picture from Lake Placid! The Archbold mural in Lake Placid. It actually takes up several sides of this building!

We ended the day watching the sunset with the rest of ARMF, after a few more lovely hikes.